Big Wow Comic Fest
Just got back last night from Big Wow in San Jose and I have to say it was a blast. I thought I would do a post show report for any of you considering coming out next year.
First off, it was super crowded and busy, with a lot of cool guests and speakers. This might be due to the fact that Wonder Con moved to Anaheim this year (they are supposed to be back next year) or it could just be a great show that is growing on it’s own strength, but it was super crowded. Not Wonder or Comic Con style, but certainly busier than the Anaheim show.
The attendees: generally very cool. Sunday was dominated by families, with a ton of strollers and little super heroes. Saturday saw lots of teenage to young adults. One nice thing about the mid to smaller shows is I get more of a chance to talk to fans and find out what they are into (generally comic books).
What’s Hot: anything Avengers. I pretty much sold out of my Marvel Comic T Shirts. Batman was really big too, with the new movie coming out. I sold a surprisingly large amount of Flash shirts, but I think that has more to do with the Big Bang Theory than actual fans of the comic (Big Bang shirts did very well too).
What’s Not: zombie stuff seems to be dropping off. Still sells, but I think the saturation point has been reached. Same with Angry Birds shirts. Video games in general seem to have dropped off, although I did do well with Umbrella shirts from Resident Evil.
The Venue: San Jose Convention Center is no worse or better than any other decent hall. I will say the lack of carpet made for a lot of sore feet by the end of the day. Don’t we all love standing around on polished concrete all day?
Parking: excellent. Easy to get to and relatively cheap.
The Costumes: honestly I didn’t see a lot that really impressed me. The 501st was there looking sharp as usual, but nothing new that blew my socks off. Lots of goths.
The Girls: pretty impressive. Lots of cute girls, and the ratio seemed well weighted towards the distaff (in other words, 4 guys to every girl instead of the usual 7 to 1).
Show low point: finding out that the snack bar right outside the entrance didn’t open up until the exact moment the show started and I would have to be in my booth. I was forced to run down to the hotel coffee bar. I also found out that San Jose now forces everyone to charge $.10 for bags. As a friend of the environment I applaud that. As a consumer in a hurry I find it a little annoying.
Show high point: While walking in to the venue after jogging to the hotel coffee bar I heard someone in line say “Oh, NerdKungFu is here.” They must have recognized me, which makes me feel all happy inside.
This show also had me fall in love (or at least a very strong crush) with another movie star. The star in question is the lovely Maxine Wasa, who came by my booth on Saturday, berated me for not having her size in a shirt, and then came back the next day and bought two of them. I reciprocated by buying a very hot picture of her from her booth which she autographed for me. I really don’t do that sort of thing, but she had a spark that entranced me. She will be at Comic Con and I will go by her booth again. She’s had a couple cool roles and is something of a name in the horror scene. She just had a movie come out called No Strings 2. I will track it down and review it, even though it looks like it features a demonic puppet clown. A more freaky combination I can’t imagine.
One more cool thing that happened was a lady bought this Spider Man t shirt from me and then got a bunch of the artists at the show to sketch all over it. Very cool, and I think it looks sharp. I might have to start stocking more white t shirts for shows.
Anyway, I will see Battleship matinee today and if it as bad as it looks excrete my opinion all over it later tonight. Thanks for reading. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu or email questions or suggestions to [email protected]. Sorry for nothing over the weekend, but we were super busy. Talk to you soon. I have to go find a frame for a certain picture, if you know what I mean.
Dave
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